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Why the media waited till now to admit Harris ran a lousy campaign

Why the media waited till now to admit Harris ran a lousy campaign

Something suddenly struck me as I tracked all the finger-pointing and blame-shifting over Kamala Harris losing badly to Donald Trump. As we watched her 107-day campaign, most of the coverage was absolutely glowing, as she was depicted as an inspiring trailblazer who would unify the country. DEPRESSED MEDIA REACT TO TRUMP VICTORY: HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY HAVE HAPPENED? But about five minutes after Donald Trump was declared president-elect, a very different portrait emerged. Harris had run an awful campaign, making all sorts of missteps and blunders. She hadn’t done this, that and the other thing. She wasn’t up to the challenge. She couldn’t meet the moment. Now they tell us? Doesn’t this suggest that the journalists, commentators and analysts were covering for her? That they knew the vice president was faltering, flubbing and failing, and weren’t being straight about it? Well, here’s what that brings to mind. For most of his term, President Biden was portrayed as a competent chief executive, maybe lacking pizazz, but more than capable of getting things done, whether you liked his policies or not. Some age-related stories surfaced earlier this year, but both White House officials and those covering Biden assured readers and viewers that he was, in one phrase, “sharp as a tack.” THE ‘GARBAGE’ CAMPAIGN: WHY MISTAKES AND DISTRACTIONS COULD TILT THE OUTCOME And then came the debate. Boom! The country saw the president struggling to form coherent sentences against Trump, and he would soon be pressured out of the race. At that point, many media figures said sure, they had seen Biden’s mental acuity decline, and yes, he had often been hidden from them, but wasn’t it obvious? A few said White House officials had told them as long as two years earlier that there was no way Biden was capable of running for reelection. But of course that was off the record. In short, even as the president was looking confused or turning the wrong way, much of the press covered for him. And you wonder why the media’s credibility ratings are in the toilet. In the case of Harris, just as in the case of Biden, many journalists obscured the harsh reality of their problems until it was no longer in their interest to do so. We’re getting a major dose of this because of all the sniping between the Harris and Biden camps. TRUMP CAMP CONFIDENT BASED ON EARLY VOTING, WHILE BLACK LEADERS SAY HARRIS IS STRUGGLING “Democrats are directing their rage over losing the presidential race at Joe Biden, who they blame for setting up Kamala Harris for failure by not dropping out sooner,” Politico reports. “They say his advancing age, questions over his mental acuity and deep unpopularity put Democrats at a sharp disadvantage. They are livid that they were forced to embrace a candidate who voters had made clear they did not want — and then stayed in the race long after it was clear he couldn’t win.” On the same site, columnist Jonathan Martin says “the Biden sympathizers want to pin her loss on, well, her. And the Harris defenders believe Biden’s undeniably at fault for creating the forbidding political environment she proved unable to overcome. “How can Harris’s defenders grumble about being dragged down by Biden when she could not find one substantive policy issue on which to break from the unpopular incumbent?” What’s more, “where was the daring? There was no full-throated attempt at defensive politics and reassuring the country she’d govern from the center and reject extremists in both parties…If the other side assails you as a liberal without any clear and sustained response, well, voters will believe the attacks. Given the scale of difficulty she faced — and, yes, how bad that initial, internal polling was — why not take some risks?” Now there were some suggestions, including from me, that Harris was being too cautious and sticking to talking points. I argued from the day she passed over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro that Tim Walz would do nothing for the ticket; now many pundits are simply stating that as fact.  One exception to the wait-till-it’s-over approach is this mid-October piece in Axios: “Many senior Biden aides remain wounded by the president being pushed out of his reelection bid and are still adjusting to being in a supportive role on the campaign trail…Some on the Harris team say that top White House aides aren’t sufficiently coordinating Biden’s messaging and schedule to align with what’s best for the vice president’s campaign.” The media have plenty to answer for in the wake of this election, including how they underestimated Trump’s chances and appeal to voters, and failed to grasp why Harris’ party seemed out of touch to many in the working class.  But painting a rosy scenario when things were actually dark for Harris – even if there’s nothing she could have done to stop the Trump juggernaut – ranks right up there.

Two dead, 12 missing after fishing boat sinks off South Korea

Two dead, 12 missing after fishing boat sinks off South Korea

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol orders all available resources and personnel to assist with search for survivors. At least two people are dead and 12 others missing after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of South Korea, coastguard officials have said. The 120-tonne Geumseong sank about 24 kilometres (15 miles) off the resort island of Jeju after leaving the port of Seogwipo to catch mackerel late on Thursday, the Korea Coast Guard said on Friday. The crew on board included 16 South Koreans and 11 foreigners, two of whom are unaccounted for, officials said. Coastguard officials said they received a distress signal at about 4:30am on Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that went to the scene to help rescue their crew. Crew members told the coastguard that the ship suddenly capsized and began to sink while they were transferring their catch to another ship, according to officials. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered all available resources and personnel to be mobilised to assist with the rescue, his office said. At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea’s coastguard, police, fire service and military, and 13 civilian vessels, have been deployed to search for survivors. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump 2.0: Will China and Imran Khan test Pakistan ties with the US?

Trump 2.0: Will China and Imran Khan test Pakistan ties with the US?

Islamabad, Pakistan – Amid a flurry of congratulatory messages from political leaders worldwide following his victory in the US presidential election, Donald Trump received a message from an unexpected source: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his “very good friend” who is currently in jail. In a brief, 55-word post on his X social media account, Khan congratulated Trump on his win and said the will of the American people “held against all odds”. “President Elect Trump will be good for Pak-US relations based on mutual respect for democracy and human rights. We hope he will push for peace, human rights, and democracy globally,” Khan’s message read. Congratulations on behalf of myself & PTI to @realDonaldTrump for winning the US Presidential Elections. The will of the American people held against all odds. President Elect Trump will be good for Pak-US relations based on mutual respect for democracy & human rights. We hope… — Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 6, 2024 The post points to some of the ways in which a deeply divided Pakistan’s relationship with the US under a second Trump presidency could be tested, say analysts. Will Trump intervene on Khan’s behalf? While most experts believe Pakistan is unlikely to be a priority for the new administration, Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is hopeful that Trump’s win could ease the political troubles faced by the former prime minister, who just two years ago accused the US, under President Joe Biden, of meddling in Pakistan’s domestic politics to remove him from power. Former Pakistan president and a senior member of PTI, Arif Alvi, congratulated Trump for his victory, adding that “free and fair” elections allowed “the citizens of America to make their dreams come true”. “We look forward to continued cooperation as democratic nations. Indeed, your victory must have sent shivers down the spine of dictators and aspiring dictators of the world,” Alvi wrote on platform X. But Pakistan’s officials appeared confident that the US under Trump would not pressure them for Khan’s release – and laid down Islamabad’s red line on the matter. “Pakistan and the United States are old friends and partners, and we will continue to pursue our relations on the basis of mutual respect, mutual confidence and noninterference in each other’s domestic affairs,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters on Thursday. Joshua White, a former White House official for South Asian affairs under the Obama administration, suggested that engagement with Pakistan will likely be a “low priority” for Trump’s team. White, now a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that Pakistan is primarily viewed through a counterterrorism lens in Washington, with “little appetite” for renewing a broader security or economic partnership. “It’s plausible that someone in Trump’s circle might encourage him to address Khan’s case or the PTI’s position more generally,” White told Al Jazeera, “but it is unlikely he would use the US government’s influence to pressure the Pakistani military on this matter.” After Khan was removed through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022, he accused the US of colluding with Pakistan’s military to remove him, a claim both Washington and Islamabad deny. But relations have since warmed gradually between the two nations, with the Biden administration appointing Donald Blome as US ambassador to Pakistan in May 2022, filling a position vacant since August 2018. Throughout the crackdown on Khan and PTI, including Khan’s imprisonment since August 2023, US authorities have largely refrained from commenting, citing it as an internal matter for Pakistan to resolve. However, following controversial general elections in February, where the PTI claimed their majority was curtailed through a “mandate theft”, the US stopped short of characterising the election as free and fair. Congress subsequently held a hearing on the “future of democracy” in Pakistan, spurred by legislators urging President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to scrutinise the election outcome. In October, more than 60 democratic legislators urged Biden to use Washington’s influence with Pakistan to secure Khan’s release. Although Trump had criticised Pakistan in his first term, accusing it of providing “nothing but lies and deceit”, he developed a rapport with Khan during the latter’s premiership from 2018 to 2022. The two first met in Washington in July 2019 and again in Davos in January 2020, where Trump referred to Khan as his “very good friend”. By contrast, relations between Khan and Biden were frosty, with Khan often complaining about Biden never making contact with him. Just days before the November 5 election, Atif Khan, a senior PTI leader, also met Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to discuss concerns about Khan’s incarceration. Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US and the UK, questioned expectations that Trump might intervene on Khan’s behalf. “While Trump and Khan enjoyed a warm relationship, Pakistan does not figure prominently among US foreign policy priorities,” Lodhi told Al Jazeera. “Relations are at a crossroads and need redefinition, but it’s unclear how interested a Trump administration would be in engaging on this front.” Will Pakistan matter more – or less – to the US under Trump? Foreign policy expert Muhammad Faisal added that Pakistan, which had some engagement with the US under Trump due to the Afghanistan conflict, may now receive less attention as the administration grapples with issues like Gaza, Ukraine, and US-China tensions. “The presidency will be more focused on domestic policy and global trade issues. Pakistan’s domestic politics is not a topic of mutual interest for the incoming Trump administration,” the Sydney-based analyst said. Still, some see Pakistan’s relevance to US interests potentially increasing if tensions in the Middle East rise, particularly with Iran. “Pakistan’s significance may grow if tensions between the US and Iran escalate,” Washington-based geopolitical commentator Uzair Younus told Al Jazeera. “In such a scenario, Pakistan could serve as a partner to limit the influence of Iran’s regional proxies.” The China test Pakistan’s ties with China could also come under the microscope, said other observers. China, Pakistan’s longstanding ally, has invested

Trump ally floated as possible AG has harsh warning for Letitia James: ‘We will put your fat a– in prison’

Trump ally floated as possible AG has harsh warning for Letitia James: ‘We will put your fat a– in prison’

Mike Davis, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, had some harsh words for New York Attorney General Letitia James during an appearance on “The Benny Show” podcast on Thursday.  “Let me just say this to Big Tish James, the New York Attorney General … I dare you to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term,” the founder of the Article III Project said. “Because listen here sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time. And we will put your fat a– in prison for conspiracy against rights and I promise you that.”  Davis warned James to “think long and hard before you want to violate President Trump’s constitutional rights or any other American’s constitutional rights.”  “It’s not going to happen again,” Davis said.  NBA COACH DOC RIVERS SAYS ‘WE HAVE TO SUPPORT TRUMP’ AFTER BASHING HIM THROUGHOUT ELECTION CYCLE James ordered Trump to pay a $454 million bond payment earlier this year as part of a civil fraud case brought against the former commander-in-chief. The New York AG accused Trump of overinflating the value of his assets to get better loans.  Trump later appealed the ruling. His attorneys called New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” After Trump’s electoral victory on Tuesday, James and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to fight back against any potential “revenge or retribution” that may be coming their way now that President-elect Trump will be returning to the White House. In his interview with Johnson, Davis also took shots at Fulton County Attorney General Fani Willis, who brought charges against Trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.  “[Fani Willis] is going to get disqualified from this case. This case will go to another district attorney in Georgia and no one in their right mind would bring this case again because it is not a crime to object to a presidential election,” Davis said.  Willis, a Democrat, won her bid for re-election on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Courtney Kramer.  CONSERVATIVE POLITICOS SHARE REACTIONS TO PROTEST RESPONSE AFTER TRUMP WIN: ‘IT’S STRANGELY QUIET’ Willis made headlines just a month into her tenure, announcing in February 2021 that she was investigating whether Trump and others broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow loss in the state to Biden.  The case is largely on hold while Trump and other defendants appeal a judge’s ruling allowing Willis to continue prosecuting the case.  Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of James and Willis seeking a response to Davis’ comments.  A former Supreme Court clerk and Senate aide, Davis has been suggested as a possible candidate for White House Counsel in the forthcoming Trump administration.  Davis has dismissed these rumors, writing on X: “No, thank you. I want to serve as Viceroy.”